Free Republic

Vol 32 No 52 | 12/21-12/27, World News North Korea explodes myth of Kim dynasty Posted on 21 December 2013. Tags: 2013, Vol 32 No 52 | December 21 - December 27 By Foster Klug Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea’s propaganda machine has long kept alive the myth of a serene, all-powerful ruling dynasty that enjoyed universal love and support at home. In a single stroke last week, that came crashing down. In attempting to justify the execution of his uncle, who was also considered North Korea’s No. 2 official, young leader Kim Jong Un has...

Mired in Fearpolitik: North Korea in 2014 [Sohn Gwang Joo Column â‘ ] Sohn Gwang Joo, Director, Daily NK Reunification Strategy Research Institute | 2013-12-21 00:12 What will become of the Kim Jong Eun regime? How will circumstances in the North change over the course of the onrushing 2014? Will the internal situation remain stable, or not? Will Kim Jong Eun raise a solution to the nuclear issue in discussion with China, and will Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Eun have their first summit? Alternatively, will Pyongyang ignore the unified denuclearization demands of South Korea, Japan and the United States, moving...

Yonhap News Agency December 21, 2013 1:16pm N. Korea unlikely to conduct nuclear test for several months WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is not likely to conduct another nuclear test anytime soon, a U.S. institute said Friday, citing recent satellite images that showed ongoing construction work at the only known nuclear test site in the reclusive country. The assessment by 38 North, a website by the U.S. Korea Institute of Johns Hopkins University, comes as recent satellite images showed construction work underway to build new a tunnel at the nuclear test site that can be used to detonate...

Kim Jong-un's Aunt 'Seriously Ill' Kim Kyong-hui, the wife of executed North Korean eminence grise Jang Song-taek, and aunt of leader Kim Jong-un, has had long-term treatment in Russia for heart problems but her health apparently continues to deteriorate, sources claim. A source in Beijing said Kim was in Russia for some 40 days due to heart problems and returned to Pyongyang last month. The source added Kim's condition is "serious." Her brother, former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and father, nation founder Kim Il-sung, both died of heart attacks, making it likely that the disease is genetic. Kim is...

Is Kim Jong-un a Puppet of Hardline Brass? Speculation is growing that hardline North Korean generals were behind the execution of leader Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-taek and that Kim was merely their pawn. That would be worrying for South Korea, which would face an increased threat of military provocations. Park Hyung-joong at the Korea Institute for National Unification said Jang's purge was part of a power struggle where factions in the military that Jang had stripped of their lucrative businesses tried to regain them. Forces opposed to Jang, who was seen as a moderate, used a purported challenge to...

Kim Jong Un’s former classmates say he really is ‘dangerous, unpredictable, prone to violence’ By Max Fisher, Updated: December 16 at 12:39 pm North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS) The U.S. government reached alarming conclusions about the personal character of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un based on interviews with people who knew him when he was a student in Switzerland, former U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell revealed on CNN over the weekend. The official U.S. assessment of Kim's character is perhaps not, on its face, very...

N.Korea Threatens S.Korean Marines with 'Annihilation' In this video grab from MBC, North Korean propaganda leaflets are found on Baeknyeong Island in the West Sea on Monday. North Korea on Monday floated hundreds of propaganda leaflets into South Korea threatening the "annihilation" of the 6th Marine Brigade on Baeknyeong Island, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The burst of belligerence comes less than a week after the execution of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s uncle Jang Song-taek, who was seen as a moderate. The previous day, the North Korean propaganda website, Uriminzokkiri also threatened to "mercilessly throw a battering ram"...

In 1984 moment, N. Korea deletes near entirety of news archives In striking development, North Korean media deletes near-entirity of its article archives by Chad O’Carroll , December 16, 2013 North Korean state media outlet the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) has deleted over 35,000 articles from its on-line archives. The deletion, the biggest ever article removal in KCNA’s history, means that with the exception of a small number of articles about Kim Jong Un, the digital record of state-approved news currently only reaches back to October 2013 on KCNA’s North Korea (.kp) hosted website. “There were 35,000 articles dated...

China seeks out Russia over North Korea strategy Staff Reporter 2013-12-16 15:13 (GMT+8) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Photo/CFP) In an unusual move, China has sought out Russia to discuss a way forward regarding North Korea following the execution of pro-reform leader Jang Sung-taek, reports Duowei News, an outlet run by overseas Chinese. Jang, 67, the uncle-in-law of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un, was executed last week for allegedly staging a coup. He was described as "despicable human scum" by North Korea's state media and accused of treason, corruption, womanizing, gambling and taking drugs. Jang was not afforded a...

North Korean leader's uncle 'executed over corruption' The once-powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been executed after being purged for corruption, state news agency KCNA reports. Chang Song-thaek was dramatically removed from a Communist Party session by armed guards earlier this week. He was accused of forming factions against the state, corruption and "depraved" acts such as womanising and drug abuse. It was the biggest upheaval since Mr Kim succeeded his father two years ago. KCNA said Mr Chang had been executed immediately after a military trial on Thursday, calling him a "traitor" and accusing him of...

/begin my excerpts N. Korea: Jang Sung-taek Executed Immediately after Special Military Trial (Seoul=Yonhap News) Jang Yong-hoon = N. Korea held a special military trial on Dec. 12 and sentenced Jang Sung-taek to death. The sentence was carried out immediately, according to KCNA on Dec. 13. KCNA reported, "A special military trial by State Security Department of DPRK was held on Dec. 12. By 60th provision of state criminal law, it sentenced Jang to death and the sentence was carried out immediately." /end my excerpts

/begin my excerpts "Jang Sung-taek's Associate Escaped, Carrying Key Documents on Nuke" 2013.12.10 20:50 A close associate of now-purged Jang Sung-taek escaped to China with key documents on N. Korea's nuclear program recently. It is a possibility that the impending purge of Jang contributed to his defection. SBS(S. Korean TV station,) quoting a source on N. Korea, reported that, in the early part of October, when momentum is building up to purge Jang Sung-taek, his close associate escaped to China, who is a former general at Ruling Party's Administration Department which Jang headed. The source said, "He came out with...

/begin my translation Jang Sung-taek Being Dragged Out Jang Sung-taek Being Dragged Out (Seoul=Yonhap News) On Dec. 9, N. Korea's Chosun Central TV aired the picture of arrest of Jang Sung-taek, Vice Chairman of National Defense Commission, at an expanded session of ruling Party's Politbureau. 2013.12.9 /end my translation

Where Is Kim Jong-un? North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is apparently staying well away from Pyongyang in a country retreat after the ouster of eminence grise Jang Song-taek. Kim was last seen in public at a military base in Ryanggang Province on Nov. 29. The official KCNA news agency reported that Kim toured the province on Nov. 30, but he has not been pictured since. Some North Korea watchers believe Kim is still lying low in Ryanggang Province, which is on the border with China. KCNA reported on Dec. 1 that Kim sent a congratulatory message to Laos and encouraged...

North Korea is pushing ahead with plans to expand its infamous labor camps for political prisoners, according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International. The human rights group released satellite images reportedly showing continued expansion at two of the country's largest political prison camps, including new housing blocks, production facilities, and reinforced perimeter security. (SNIP) The satellite images, taken in May 2013, indicate a slight increase in population at Camp 16, the largest political prison camp in North Korea, with new housing blocks visible. In 2011, an estimated 20,000 people were believed be imprisoned at the camp, Amnesty said....

(LEAD) North Korean leader's uncle removed from power: spy agency SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek has been removed from power, South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the assessment based on information provided by multiple reliable sources that claimed two of Jang's closest confidants were executed in public in late November. It said that those accused were cited for corruption and activities that countered the stance of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The agency speculated that it is still trying to determine the scope of...

Proliferation: As we shutter our ICBM squadrons and destroy our silos, Iran and North Korea are working on technology to deliver nukes Pyongyang already has and Tehran is a few centrifuge rotations from acquiring. As Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon reports, groups of technicians from the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), a unit in charge of building Iran's liquid-fueled missiles, have made repeated trips to North Korea during the past several months, including as recently as late October, to work on a new 80-ton rocket booster being developed by the North Koreans, That booster is believed to be...

South Korea (AP) -- North Korea state media claimed Saturday that an elderly U.S. tourist detained for more than a month has apologized for alleged crimes during the Korean War and for "hostile acts" against the state during a recent trip. North Korean authorities released video showing 85-year-old Merrill Newman, wearing glasses, a blue button-down shirt and tan trousers, reading his alleged apology, which was dated Nov. 9 and couldn't be independently confirmed. Pyongyang has been accused of previously coercing statements from detainees. There was no way to reach Newman and determine the circumstances of the alleged confession. "I have...

According to the interim agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program that was reached this weekend in Geneva, not one centrifuge will be destroyed. Not one pound of enriched uranium will leave Iran. Not one American unjustly detained in Iran's notorious prisons will be released. But Iran will start to receive, in a matter of days, $7 billion in relief from international economics sanctions. This appears to be an unfortunate case of history repeating itself. As happened with North Korea in 1994, fascination with the negotiation process has blinded American diplomats to the true nature of their negotiating partners. Substantive sanctions relief...

Iranian collaboration with North Korea on a new rocket booster for long-range missiles undermines the deal with Tehran on its nuclear program, key Senate and House Republicans said on Tuesday. “While the president was undertaking his secret negotiations—which Congress wasn’t informed of—he had to know Iran and North Korea were testing new engines for ballistic missiles to target the United States,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.) chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces. Reports of Iran-North Korea ICBM collaboration follow new anti-America and anti-Israel outbursts from the Islamist regime in Tehran, Cruz said. “The Iranian regime...